Sunday, March 23, 2008

Big Planet by Jack Vance was originally published in serial form in 1952. A group of human experts is sent to control the expansion of one of the empires on the big planet. It's called big planet because its circumference is 80,000 miles. The planet was discovered by nudists and is populated by misfits including cannibal gypsies. The whole thing is rather ridiculous. I rather doubt any of these cultures could actually function. The heroes crash land on the wrong side of the planet and decide to travel round. They spend most of their time dealing with the bizarre cultures and try to survive. The conclusion involves some lunacy with marijuana smoke. The whole thing is bizarre and not in a good way.